A/N: So ready for some Taiora moments? I bet you are. After all that's why you're here ne?
So, the fluff has been slow to work its way into the fic- however there is plenty located in this chapter- and the several chapters to come!
Thanks for the reviews and enjoy!!
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A choked sob came out of the red head's throat. Backing away from the man who lay on the ground, her legs went weak and she fell to the ground.
Taichi was silent as he stared in confusion at the sight before him. The woman before him was on her hands and knees, her shoulders shook as sobs wracked her body.
"I'm sorry..." her voice quivered as she spoke. Looking up to him, her crimson orbs welled with tears.
"You know the man who killed my family... where is he?" Tai asked with both anger and pain in his voice. The pain from his body throbbed due to his current condition, however his heart's pain out weighted anything physical could ever create.
His eyes shot daggers towards her as she agonized with her own heart.
"Answer me." Tai snarled as he forced himself on to his knees. Moving slowly on his knees over towards her Tai placed his hand on her shoulders. Unable to control his rage, his hands gripped her almost violently. Shaking her, Tai tried to get her to spill her information.
"The man who killed my life is in that photo; now tell me where he is!" He spoke through his teeth as his anger rose with her continued sobs.
"I... I can't..." She choked out. "I know how you feel."
"You know how I feel? No you don't! No one could. He murdered my family and ruined my life!"
"He took my life as well." She cried looking back into his eyes. "He befriended my family and then he murdered them all... I was... I was only nine when he left me for dead too..."
Tai immediately loosened his grip on her shoulders. The pain that reflected in her orbs mirrored his own, and he knew she was telling the truth. However, something inside of him did not want to acknowledge anyone else could understand his pain.
Maybe it was that he had not fully recovered from the shock of his family's death yet, or it could have been his desperation to find some kind of justice, any kind of solution to the pain he felt...
"You're lying!" He hissed.
"No I'm not... on my back, you'll find his calling card..." She told him tears spilling out of her eyes.
Tai did not know what she was talking about, however the curiosity got the better of him. When she turned with her back facing him, he pulled at the fabric until the pale skin of her back was exposed. Tai could not help but gasp at the scar that he found marking her lower back. It was similar in shape to the many gashes that were left on his wife's body, and bodies of other victims of the man he was in search.
Following reports of hideous murders and fires had lead Taichi to this spot, however he had never really taken the strange marks as anything important. A survivor was something he had not found before now.
His hands touched the smooth gash that had healed over with time. As his fingers touched the scar, the agony inside his heart and mind grew. He was not the first to suffer because of this man, nor was he the last.
Sora's tears continued as the stranger touched her old wounds.
"'Please, you have to tell me where he is... I can stop him and avenge us both." Tai said in a sympathetic voice, his fingers still on the scars.
"Don't you think I've been trying to get him?" She sobbed. "I've been here for so long and gotten so close, yet he's always one step ahead of me... he's taunting me... I've tried...." Sora couldn't take the pent up pain and frustration anymore. Letting her walls break down around her, she wept. Her fists balled up tightly turning a white shade of rage.
The events of the day had hit both sides of the emotional spectrum. One moment she was strong and fearless like in the street, handing a gun with precision and skill; and now she was before him shedding tears of utter pain and sadness. Tai knew how she felt; there was even a part of him that felt she had suffered more than he had seeing her like this...
Leaning down closer to the crying woman, his heart took over as his head tried to process everything that was happening. Before he knew what he was doing himself, Tai placed a kiss to the base of the scar.
Her sobs ended abruptly as she gasped at the feel of the kiss. Not fully understanding his motives, Sora let out a small laugh.
"You're the first person to not be disgusted with them." She laughed as the tears continued at a slower pace. Feeling the first true affectionate touch in years, Sora could not help but feel her loneliness sneaking back up on her.
"We'll work together. He won't get away with the things he's put people through for much longer. I promise I'll help you." He said as he buttoned the back of the dress. "But first I need to see a doctor." He groaned as he let himself drop back onto the hay.
Sora, after drying her eyes, turned to look at Tai. She had definitely never met someone like him before. Just the way he had kissed her scar made her feel she was not as alone as she thought. He was here, and with two heads working together to put a stop to the murders they could succeed.
Getting to her feet, Sora offered the injured man a hand. Supporting a good amount of his weight on her shoulder, Sora and Tai walked back to the inn and up the stairs.
"I have medicines to treat your bruises in my room." She said as she unlocked her room and helped Tai inside. Her room had a great deal more furnishing than his room; however, for as long as she had been living in this town, her room contained few decorations. In the corner near the door, a chair was piled full with dresses she appeared to be mending.
Setting him to rest on the bed near the window, Sora went into the bathroom and began fumbling around for medical supplies.
While she did this, Tai took a better look at her room. Near the foot of the bed, pushed into a corner was a desk. Papers and objects littered the top. Maps and photos from sheriff offices lined the walls nearby. Sitting there and looking at her possessions did not tell him much more about the woman he was so curious about.
Waiting for her to return from the bathroom, Tai's feet tapped against a wooden object sticking partially out from underneath her bed. Looking down, he was surprised to see a small open trunk of weapons and ammunition. The array of small pistols, derringers and various other kinds of easy concealable weapons made him wonder if this town was that dangerous.
"I've made many enemies." She spoke up as she returned to his side with a basin of water and supplies. As she had returned, Sora saw him looking over her weapon supply.
"How?" Taichi asked looking up at the potentially deadly woman before him.
"Well you saw first hand how one bad move and I had an assassin after me. I've had to lay low for the past week or so after I got some information out of some guy working for 'him.'" She replied as she set the basin down on the nightstand next to the head of the bed. Dipping a clean washcloth into the cool water, she moved to take off Tai's hat.
"I guess I owe you an apology for getting all worked up for a moment. Thunder didn't mean anything either, he's just a little protective sometimes." She told him as she washed the dirt and now dried blood from his face. For the next few moments, Sora gently tended his newly acquired bruises and a few old ones in silence.
"All the things I know about him are from another life time. My family had a small farm in the Midwest. We were not rich, but we were happy. My mother, my father, Thunder and me- it was right before harvest that my father found a man nearly dead on the way home from town. He became like part of the family, working on the farm. It wasn't much after we sold the year's wheat harvest when he suddenly changed. He had always been creepy before, however he grew to be down right terrifying." She stopped as she dipped the cloth back into the water. "He just snapped one day. Father was gone at the time; that man was smiling as he came after us. And when father did return, it was... it was too late."
Tai lightly took her hand in his own. He knew it was hard to talk about something like this, and yet she had trusted him enough to tell him.
"I survived, after all the things he did to me... I crawled out of the burning house only to find him smiling down at me. I will never forgive him as long as I live. With every breath I take I swear I will slit his throat personally."
"So how did you find out he was in this town?" Taichi asked quietly as she now began to bandage his head.
"I was in a hospital for the next year; the doctors didn't think I was going to survive with the loss of blood and trauma... I showed them. I was on my own and that's when I first overheard information on a case similar to mine. However the family all died. I took everything I owned and followed the reports, surviving anyway I could. If you can believe, I can be quite persuasive and soon I had solid information to go on. That's what led me here."
"I bet," Tai chuckled at that comment thinking of the poor man who messed with the beautiful, but deadly woman tending him now.
Tai blushed furiously as she began to unbutton the top of his shirt, as if it was nothing improper. Once it was unbuttoned fully, she pushed the cloth off his shoulders and stood up.
"Lay down on your stomach. Thunder and I must have done a number on your back." She said as she put away the roll of white cloth bandages. Tai followed her orders with a little hesitation at first. However, he needed to know if there was something dislocated back there. His ribs and neck still throbbed.
Her soft hands worked across his back in a massaging motion. As she worked the tight muscles of his shoulders and neck, Tai couldn't help letting out a soft groan. The way her hands moved was a delicious feeling, thousands of times better than the pain, which left his mind completely.
"Your shoulders are really tense..." She told him as she continued to work his back trying to get him to relax. "There doesn't seem to be any broken ribs, or anything too serious."
"That's good." Tai tried to say, however it came out in another moan. Thinking for a moment about the situation made his cheeks stain in a blush again. He was lying on her bed, half clothed- she was kneeling over him, now on the bed with a ripped dress.
'God what am I thinking?' He groaned inwardly. 'But it feels so... right being here with her... I thinking I'm going crazy... I have to get out of here and soon before I loose it.'
Sora's hands continued to work their magic down his back; Tai could not remember the last time he felt so relaxed. Riding on the open frontier for months must have really done a number on his body.
Sora was finished with the massage when she heard the sounds of snores coming from the man on the bed. With a sigh and a disbelieving shake of her head, she found that Tai had fallen asleep.
"You must have been really tired." She laughed lightly poking at the muscular frame of her newest ally. After attempting to wake him, Sora decided to let the man sleep. Taking off his boots and rolled him until he was under the covers.
Stepping away from the bed, Sora took this opportunity to get a better glimpse at the man in her bed. He was not overly handsome like Matt's smooth face and light hair. However, he wasn't bad looking. The brown haired man had more of a boyish charm than a rugged man's physic. Yet he was built nicely. The muscles that had rippled and relaxed under her touch had caused her heartbeat to rise considerably during the massage.
As if he knew someone was thinking about him, Taichi rolled over in bed and nuzzled into the pillows. His smile was what got her.
"I don't know about you Tai..." She said as she went over to her desk and sat down. "My heart is trying to tell me something new every time I see your smile or your intense eyes... this can only be a bad thing right now." She decided in a quite whisper.
Looking outside the sun was beginning its descent into the horizon. Many of the shops and houses had lit their candles and oil lamps in preparation of the night. Sora followed suit and the glow of the oil lamp on her desk illuminated the room. Looking around Sora reminded herself she was only here temporarily. With Tai's help, maybe she could even escape this city and her life there sooner than expected.
"But first things first." She said pulling out a piece of paper from inside her desk drawer. On the list were several names of supposed high-ranking members on the inside and close to her true target. If she played her cards right, in a few days she could have all the information she needed about the location of the man who had ruined so many lives.
"I will get my revenge, one way, or another." She said setting the paper down and returning to the bathroom.
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A/N:
Cliffhanger...what's going to happen next?
Ask again later....
Will there be more Taiora fluff in the next chapter?
Signs point to yes...
Can they work together and get the bad guy?
Highly probable...
Will Sora and Tai live happily ever after?
You'll have to wait and see!
Thanks for the reviews! And I'll see you next time!
Ja ne mina-san!
